AIA Group Ltd Increases Stake in BlackRock $BLK

AIA Group Ltd raised its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 16.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,900 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $9,521,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in BlackRock by 5,190.3% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,490,422 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $5,876,618,000 after acquiring an additional 5,386,640 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,742,680,000. Oak Harvest Investment Services increased its position in BlackRock by 12,176.1% during the fourth quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 1,595,153 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,707,356,000 after purchasing an additional 1,582,159 shares during the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its stake in BlackRock by 106,934.0% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 1,284,408 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $128,441,000 after purchasing an additional 1,283,208 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in BlackRock by 200.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,451,122 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,553,194,000 after purchasing an additional 968,245 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,050.55, for a total transaction of $35,613,645.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 230,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $242,168,583.80. The trade was a 12.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,056.60, for a total transaction of $9,233,627.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the president directly owned 210,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $222,082,527.60. This represents a 3.99% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 1.92% of the company’s stock.

Key BlackRock News

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock reported record second-quarter results, with revenue and earnings beating Wall Street estimates and client assets reaching a new high, highlighting strong operating momentum. Blackrock CEO Says Client Demand Has ‘Never Been Greater’ as Assets Reach Record $15.3 Trillion
• Positive Sentiment: BMO Capital Markets raised its price target on BlackRock to $1,300 and kept an outperform view, while other firms also lifted targets after the earnings beat, signaling rising Street confidence. BlackRock price target raised by BMO Capital Markets
• Positive Sentiment: J.P. Morgan upgraded BlackRock to overweight/buy-equivalent and Bank of America reiterated a buy rating, citing growth opportunities in tokenization, private markets, direct indexing, and automation-led margin expansion. JP Morgan upgrades BlackRock to buy-equivalent after Q2 earnings
• Positive Sentiment: BlackRock’s iShares business surpassed $6 trillion in assets, and Bitcoin ETF inflows continued to support the firm’s fast-growing ETF platform, reinforcing a strong fee-based growth story. BlackRock iShares Surpasses $6 Trillion in Assets
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles highlighted BlackRock’s expanding ownership stakes in other companies and broader market commentary, but these items are not likely to materially move BLK shares on their own.

BlackRock Stock Performance

BLK stock opened at $1,072.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a current ratio of 4.09. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $917.39 and a 1 year high of $1,219.94. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $1,033.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1,043.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $166.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.63, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.43.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $13.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $12.69 by $1.22. BlackRock had a net margin of 24.09% and a return on equity of 15.01%. The firm had revenue of $7.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $12.05 EPS. BlackRock’s revenue was up 30.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that BlackRock will post 55.24 EPS for the current year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $5.73 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $22.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. BlackRock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price target on BlackRock from $1,300.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,250.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of BlackRock from $1,275.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $1,389.00 price target on shares of BlackRock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on BlackRock from $1,298.00 to $1,320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,304.29.

BlackRock Profile

BlackRock, Inc is a global investment management firm that provides a broad range of products and services to institutional, intermediary and individual investors. Its core activities include portfolio management across active and index strategies, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) under the iShares brand, fixed income, equity and multi-asset solutions, as well as alternatives such as private equity, real estate and infrastructure. The firm also offers cash management and liquidity solutions and retirement-focused products designed for defined contribution and defined benefit investors.

In addition to traditional investment management, BlackRock is known for its technology and risk management capabilities, most prominently its Aladdin platform, which combines portfolio management, trading and risk analytics and is used both internally and licensed to external clients.